Meeting You : Open My Eyes
by Kashima
Summary: The arrival of a new CSI spells amusement for all, she's a fantastic CSI and a great friend, but there is something she's hiding, a dark shadow she hasn't yet gotten over and her new life is helping less than anticipated. New 'You' series.
1. Introducing

**Open My Eyes**

**©Wayward Emptyness**

Chapter 1. Introducing Fear is like a tree 

_That grows inside of me silently_

_And you could be my blood_

_And be a part of me secretly_

"Danny!"

Danny screwed up his eyes, groaned inwardly and turned in the direction of his boss's voice. Mac was walking towards him, but his face didn't tell him he was pissed at him for anything (what he could have been pissed about anyway was a mystery to him but what the hell) he was in a fairly good mood, he was holding two files and walking by his side was a woman, _ah, the new girl, Monroe will be thrilled._

Danny washed a brief scan over her as they both came to a standstill in front of him, in front of the desk he'd been about to sit behind, shoulder length dark red hair, two-toned eyes, one green, one brown, black glasses, a black sweater, dark jeans, grey trainers and a pale grey satchel bag slung across her body, she was fiddling with something that hung around her neck.

"This is Rowan Mortico, I told you about her right?" Danny nodded, adjusting his own glasses nervously, nervous, why was he nervous? _Get a grip Messer._

"Yeah, yeah y'did," he stretched out his hand.

"Danny Messer, how y'doin'," Rowan briefly raised one eyebrow.

"No need to introduce myself I guess, Mac tells me I'll be workin' with you my firs' case," Danny glanced questioningly at Mac who nodded and handed one of the files he was carrying to each of them.

"Homicide," he nodded to the both of them. "Have fun," he deadpanned. Danny flashed his trademark, copyrighted smirk at his bosses retreating back. Mac obviously expected him to give Rowan as much hell as he'd given Lindsay.

"So…you uh, you transfer here, or you playin' rookie? Mac never said," Rowan gave him a half smile with a raised eyebrow again. She slid the file under her arm as Danny shrugged off his labcoat and they headed to the locker room.

"Actually it's a little'a both, been trainin' t'be a CSI for a couple years, but I've unofficially been workin' consultant for the cops up the border, I moved there a few years ago, felt it was time to move back," Danny nodded slowly.

"Interestin' story, but a little abridged uh? Wanna fill in blanks?" Rowan shot him a sideways glance as they entered the locker room, Danny indicated the locker that was most likely Rowan's, went to his own, which happened to be across from it and hung up his labcoat, pulling out his coat.

Rowan hung her bag in the locker and pulled out her own kit. After a quick "Y'ready?" they headed out and Danny silently prompted her to 'fill in some blanks'.

"I grew up on Staten Island, parents moved us to Brooklyn when I was six, I graduated university when I was twenty one, I sorta broke off everything for a few years, moved up North, after a while I started consulting for the cops there, 'cos they were short on forensics, then after I got back t'studying I decided t'move back down here, missed the city y'know?"

Danny nodded as they headed outside and made for Danny's SUV. _Knew that was a Staten accent._

"You got a car?" Rowan shook her head; Danny unlocked the door as they climbed in.

"In the shop," she said simply, pulling on her belt.

"A'ight, this is in Manhattan, hotel room, two DBs, Latino male, Latina female, no murder weapon found as yet, found by room service who called it in, M-STs," he glanced at her to see if she knew what he was talking about to see her nodded silently in perfect comprehension.

"Le's go then," she said casually.

Danny came to fin, throughout that morning and well past, into afternoon and on into what must surely have been massive overtime for them both, that Rowan definitely knew what she was doing.

"Hey Flack!" Danny called as soon as they stepped off the elevator and saw Flack standing outside a door, hands on hips and trying, and failing, not to glare at some young punk patrol cop who wasn't exactly showing his respect for the two dead people on the other side of the wall.

Flack's expression immediately lightened slightly.

"Hey Messer, who's ya new friend? Lord knows you need 'em," Danny softly punched his arm as they reached him.

"Very cute, Don Flack, meet Rowan Mortico," Rowan smiled and extended her hand.

"Nice t'meet you," Flack nodded.

"You a rookie or a transfer, 'lot a blood in there, killer got very into what he was doin'," Rowan raised her eyebrow.

"No worries, I seen more blood, my breakfast is stayin' put," Danny smirked, Flack grinned and stepped aside.

"Ladies first," he gave Danny a look, who just stuck his tongue out at him.

"Have fun, if you'll excuse me I gotta go strangle this li'l shit for brains," the patrol cop suddenly started paying attention promptly turning an embarrassed red then a terrified white and the two CSI's could hear Flack's enraged voice as he lit into the kid.

A while later he appeared at the door to find Danny knelt by the bed, his head tilted to one side as he scanned long it and picked up three hairs at once with his tweezers, two blonde, one dark brown.

Rowan was sat cross legged beside the trash, gloved hand deep in it, fishing for some piece of evidence, her open kit beside her displayed multiple swabs from each area of blood. Danny's held a dozen or so evidence baggies.

The coroners had come and removed the body a few minutes ago once Danny had photographed it.

"Wha'd you guys find?" Rowan replied first without looking up from her trashcan.

"Whole damn lotta blood, Christ, hard to believe it came form just those two bodies, took swabs, few fibres, few hairs, no murder weapon, and nothing to get jacked up about…'cept maybe this," Danny, having bagged the odd, tangled combination of hair, joined Flack by Rowan's side and they both squatted down next to her.

"That a syringe?" Danny adjusted his glasses and peered in.

"Yup, and the paper stuck to it? Not a wrapper of any sort, it's too thick and there's ink on it, look," Rowan, both hands lodged in the trash can, fiddled between her fingers and her tweezers, and finally, carefully, separated the syringe and the paper, which she handed to Danny. After slipping it into a bag he turned back to watch her struggle to pull the delicate syringe off the inside of the wicker basket without bringing the basket with it. Finally she succeeded and bagged it.

She looked up to see Flack ogling her in wonder.

"Damn Mortico, that's some patience! Not even Mac's got shit on that, how long you been at that?" Danny answered for her smiling somewhat proudly.

"Around fifteen minutes, swabbed the blood then a couple hairs and then the trash, now if only you could pass on that kind of patience, you wouldn't yell at suspects so much, but hell where would the fun be in that?" Flack shoved him and helped Rowan up. Danny wandered off to search the bathroom.

"Wondered why you were sitting down," Flack grinned, receiving a grin back along with that maddening eyebrow raise, maddening in a good way, _oh hell, with her eyebrows and Messer's smirk, it's gonna be torture!_

"Flack, Rowan, get in here!"

They joined him in the bathroom, upon seeing him Rowan immediately turned and fetched her kit. Danny had rolled up his sleeves and was fishing in the toilet bowl, resting on his knees, leaning forwards. Rowan took out a plastic baggie and handed it to him. Once done fishing he slowly extracted his hand, in it was a pretty large shard of glass, curved, most likely form a bottle, he placed it in the bag.

"There weren't any broken wine bottles in that trash were there Rowan," he said, it wasn't a question.

"No, no wine, nothing, this place doesn't even have a minibar,"

"I'll check with the kitchens," Flack said "Ask if our vics ordered any sort of room service last night.

"A'ight, me an' Rowan'll head back to the lab," The three headed out of the room, pulling the door, already plastered with a stripe or two of yellow crime scene do not cross tape, firmly shut.


	2. There's Something About Rowan

Chapter 2. There's Something About Rowan

"Rowan! Danny!" the pair turned to see Hawkes leaning out of a door back along the corridor.

"Got ID on our vics! Found passports in the purse," the three of them leant in to the two small books, Antonia Vinetti and Alejandro Giovanno, and there was a box in the guys pocket," he pulled the evidence baggie from his own pocket and showed them the purple velvet box, open to reveal a silver ring with a cluster of different coloured gems embedded into it half way around it.

"Damn, now that thing is beautiful, he must have loved her," Danny heard the emotion in her voice, _I know what she's thinkin', she thinkin' it was a damn shame he never got to tell her. _He sighed inwardly and nudged the new girls arm, she glanced up at him, the look on his face spoke volumes, she smiled back.

"I informed Flack already, he's on his way over to pick you guys up, I'll get to work on matching up DNA samples,"

The three of them stood outside the dirty white painted door and stared silently at it.

"Uh, is someone gonna, y'know, knock?" Rowan mumbled. Danny and Flack glanced at each other and stepped backwards, Rowan's eyes widened in shock.

"Whoa, whoa! You want me to tell her! You want me to knock on a door and tell a woman she's lost her daughter?" Flack shrugged.

"Tragic news comes better from a woman," Rowan glared at him and raised her fist to the door.

"Like fuck it does," she growled but rapped smartly on the door, the sound was louder to her ears than she expected and she put a hand up to her head wincing, Danny gave her a look, noticing the strange motion but said nothing as the door slowly creaked open and a woman, Hispanic, like her daughter, dark brown hair, scraped back behind her ears, her deep brown eyes wide, darting form one visitor to the other.

"¿Hola, le puedo ayudar yo?" _Ah Christ, why can't this woman speak Italian like every other non-English speaking person in this area? _Danny thought glancing, at Flack, giving him the 'what the fuck do we do?' look, when Rowan, without blinking spoke back.

"¿Hola, mi soy Rowan Mortico Policial, éstos son Policials Flack y Messer del NYPD, es usted Senora Vinetti?" Danny was shocked, this was one complex woman, _huh, I wonder what other languages she speaks._

"¿Si, qué puedo hacer yo para usted Detective? ¿Mi marido y los ninos no están en casa, es uno de ellos en el problema?

"Siento mucho Senora Vinetti, pero su hija y su novio fueron encontrados muertos en su hotel se aloja esta manana," Mrs Vinetti's face crumpled and she gripped the door for support, the tears streaking down her face, she pulled the door open wider and ushered them wordlessly into the house.

Danny leaned towards Rowan as they entered the living room and waited for Mrs Vinetti to close the door and join them.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish," he hissed, Rowan gave him an eyebrow raise and an evil grin.

"You never asked, in the whole three hours we've known each other, oh and just for the record, I speak Italian, Russian and Greek, with a little German, but in that I'm not fluent," Danny and Flack just stared.

"What? I liked languages as a kid and didn't want to give them up after high school, took a bunch of evening classes, comes in useful in this city,"

"¿Que sucedío a mi hija?" The mothers voice from behind them made them all spin around. Flack swept his hand forwards in a 'go on ahead' gesture at Rowan who narrowed her eyes at him but stepped awkwardly forwards, took Mrs Vinetti's arm under the elbow and sat her down on the battered old sofa.

"Aparecerían ella y su novio fueron asesinados, son bien si Messer Policial echa una mirada alrededor su hogar, vea si él no puede encontrar un indicio en cuanto a lo sucedío? Flack Policial y yo permenecerancon usted," Mrs Vinetti nodded and reached for a box of tissues on the side table. Rowan glanced at Danny who nodded, hauled his kit off the floor and with a last pitying glance at the grieving mother he disappeared into another room. The dining room.

"Hey Rowan, ask her if Antonia had any enemies or anyone who was mad at her, anyone who might want to hurt her or her fiancé," Rowan nodded though with a look that said 'I ain't a rookie Flack', but nonetheless:

"¿Senora Vinetti, sabe usted de cualquiera quién querría dolerle hija, o su novio tuvieron ella a cualquier enemigo?" Mrs Vinetti shook her head, blowing her nose loudly.

"¡No, mi hija es…era una chico dulce, todos la adoraron, pero ese chico, él deletréo el problema, mi marido y mi hijo no lo quisieron, pero ellos nunca danarian Ana!"

Rowan sighed and shook her head at Flack. He frowned then snapped his fingers, both women looked up at him. Rowan shifted, uncomfortable having her arm around the older woman, she really wasn't the type to play shoulder-to-cry-on, but she was being given no other option.

"Ask her why she was in a hotel room if she lived at home!" he said. Rowan nodded.

"¿Qué piensa usted que su hija hacía en una habatación de hotel de Nueva York, se ella vivió aquí, iba ella en algún lugar, vuelve apenas?"

"Si, ellos se fueron de vacaciones a California, ella me llamó hace dos días y me dijo Alejandro había propuesto a ella, pero no le habia dado el anillo todavía, el se lo daría a ella cuando ellos volvieron," all at once Mrs Vinetti collapsed into Rowan's side, sobbing uncontrollably. Rowan looked on in horror, watching the woman cry, glancing up at Flack, who was looking faintly surprised she mumbled to the distraught woman.

"¿Senora Vinetti, nosotros tenemos que ir ahora, prometo que permitiremos que usted sepa cómo la investigación va, podemos necesitar hablar con usted marido y su hijo, bueno?" Mrs Vineeti nodded and leaned up off the Detective, whose side was now very damp, she blew her nose again and stood.

"Sí, bueno, gracias para decirme," she led them to the door, muttered 'Adios' received two 'adios's and a 'hasta luego' back and disappeared, shutting the door.

Danny nudged Rowan's side. He grinned at her.

"Impressionante, il Detective," he said. Flack glanced sideways at them both.

Grinning back Rowan said as they reached the car: "Ringraziarla il Detective, sono sicuro che lei é proprio come impressionante," she raised her eyebrow for the ten to the nth time and climbed in, leaving Danny smirking to load in their kits. Flack groaned.

"A'ight, enough talk in languages I can't begin to understand, hey for the record, I sucked at french and Spanish in high school," Rowan laughed and leant back in her seat.

"Hey Danny, should I ask you in Italian what you found or would that be too much for Donnie," Flack glared playfully over his shoulder at her, Danny snickered.

"I didn't get much, some love letters, a coupla letters from Ana to her brother Jacquero, nicknamed Jac, got prints on 'em both, but I did find a shard of green glass in the carpet in the hallway to the kitchen, no broken glass in the trash,"

"A'ight, back to processing, you take biologicals, I take materials?" Danny grinned at her in the rear-view.

New girl's fitting in awful quick, but we're a science geek and a cop, maybe that doesn't count, whatever, I like her.

He frowned as he glanced back at the rear-view and saw Rowan rubbing her temples, but said nothing.

There is something about her, she's a puzzle, an' I don't think I got all the prices… 

AN Hope all the Spanish and that bit of Italian didn't throw you too much but you can translate it at www.ets. for reading, updates soon.

AN I hope the Spanish and Italian in there didn't throw you too much, but the next chapter reveals the majority of what was said, you can get the translations anywhere, I sure as hell don't speak 'em, I'm just a sucker for other languages, and trust me, I'll work 'em in, anyways, updates soon.


	3. Tell All Show All Reveal All

Chapter 3. Tell All Show All Reveal All

"So, uh, Rowan, you gonna tell us what in the hell you said back there, that woman's words were evidence y'know," Flack said mock seriously as they got out of the car back at the lab.

Rowan gave him a humorous look as they walked in but kept her mouth shut until they entered the elevator, once out of the lobby of the high rise she turned to her new colleagues.

"She said…Ana had no enemies, she was a sweet girl, her father and brother would never hurt her-" here Danny interrupted her by raising his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait, now why throw that in?" Rowan shook her head.

"She said they didn't like her boyfriend, correction, fiancée, apparently they had been on holiday in California, where Alejandro proposed to her, she accepted and called her mom, they came back and checked into a hotel for a celebration," Danny nodded slowly as the elevator dinged and they got off, as they headed towards a lab they were greeted by Hawkes.

"Hey guys, got no-ones but the vics' blood from the samples so far but I got about six more to do, just thought I'd break for a coffee," Danny gave him a playful grin.

"Hawkes didn't Mac tell you eatin' and drinkin' was frowned upon?" Hawkes narrowed his eyes in an amusing grin.

"No, he said _eating_ is frowned upon, didn't say nothin' about drinkin'!" he smirked and sauntered off, Rowan laughed.

"Oh I know I'm gonna like it here!"

Rowan shifted her shoulders in her stiff new lab coat and pushed her glasses up onto her head as she squinted into the microscope under which was a sample of the sticky substance she had found in the waste paper basket at the scene, the broken glass fragment Danny had found at the Vinetti household lay in it's bag beside it, as did the neck and upper body of the bottle form the hotel room.

The substance under the scope was dense, not clear but clear blue, signifying that it was probably alkaline. She had out a small sample to test a couple of minutes ago and was examining the density and the microscopic grains in it while she waited.

She ignored the indignant beeping of the machine as she realised that something had been added to the substance, something had been ground up and added, making it denser and by the way the substance had more give toward the centre, it was possible it was only sticky from exposure.

Finally taking the printout of the analysis from the machine and sliding onto her stool she flipped her glasses back in front of her eyes and scanned the sheet of paper in her hand.

"Thorazine, Codeine Phosphate, flavoxate hydrochloride, and cyclobenzaprine?" Rowan frowned and, clutching the paper she got up, went over to the computer in the corner and ld into the seat, adjusting her glasses she typed in the words on the analysis and hit 'Search'. The results flashed up and she scanned though the names and uses of the combination.

"I thought so…" she lapsed into speculation, flinching at the sound of her own name as Danny snuck up behind her.

"Hey Rowan, Whuddya get so far?" Rowan slowly closed and opened her eyes and turned to face the smirking man in his own white lab coat.

"You take joy in frightening the life out of others don't you?" Danny allowed himself a full-fledged grin.

"Sure, but I didn't scare you," Rowan smiled lightly.

"No, anyways, look, this is what that stuff was made up of, it went sticky in the air as it dried, and it's been manufactured, there was a liquid or two mixed up with something ground up, it's gonna take some digging to find out what was what, but it breaks up as these," Danny's eyes widened and then frowned at the results.

"A'ight, what about the bottle?"

"Just about to start work on that once I'd done with this," Danny nodded, then suddenly looked up, Rowan turned in the direction of his gaze, a young woman with shoulder length brown hair with light brown highlights and turn-up tips walked briskly around to the door of the lab and shouldered it open, she was quietly munching the last couple of bites of an energy bar and reading a thin paperback, which she set down on a high shelf away from the chemicals before shrugging the lab coat she had thrown over her arm.

"Heya Montana," Danny called casually. The woman rolled her eyes.

"Mornin' New York," she replied in a tired tone, Rowan got the idea that the idea of the nickname had not been a mutual agreement. The woman caught sight of Rowan who had stood up and was leaning one hand on the counter on which lay the bottle and the shard, the other was now perched on her hip.

"You must be the new girl Mac was talkin' about, the one who's gonna liberate me of my new kid on the block role, sorry t'burden you an' all but after six months it gets kinda tiresome," Rowan smirked, she liked this one already. She stepped forwards, holding out her hand.

"Rowan Mortico, nice t'meet you,"

"Lindsay Monroe, pleasure," she smiled and reached back for a file set on a bench, flipping it open. Danny sidled up to her.

"Whuddya got?"

"B an' E gone horribly wrong, only it was the perp got killed, owner of the apartment's covered in blood, claims he heard noise, went through t'the living room in th'dark and slipped over in the blood pool," Danny grimaced.

"Nice, have fun Montana, you workin' with Mac an' Stella?" Lindsay nodded and headed to the door.

"Nice to meet you Rowan, see if you can keep Messer in check any better tha I have,"

"Think I'm getting the hang of him," Rowan grinned while Danny clutched his chest.

"You ladies wound me, I'm off to see if Hawkes and Jane turned up anything new on those blood samples," Rowan touched the tips of her index and middle finger to her head and swept them forwards and away in an undisciplined salute, Danny mimicked her action, nodded to Lindsay, who nodded back and headed out.

Exchanging a glance with Lindsay Rowan smirked and shook her head, turning back to the glass fragment in front of her.

An hour later Rowan stood shoulder to shoulder with a friendly lab tech and was watching peer through the scope at a tiny fragment, which was floating in a droplet of glass refraction testing oil. He motioned for her to look. She pushed her glasses up onto her head. All she could see of the sample, though it had been green to begin with was a faint outline.

"I can barely see it," she breathed, looking up and flipping he glasses back onto her face, the tech smiled and nodded.

"Right, now, take a look at this one, same oil, same size of sample, all that," he gestured to the other microscope. Pushing her glasses once more onto her head, squinting at the magnified view before her. It was similar but the outline was far bolder and illuminated under the light of the scope.

"These fragments don't match do they?" Rowan asked glumly. The tech shook his head apologetically and gathering his oils back into their box, replacing them in the cupboard on the wall.

"Thanks anyway…" Rowan trailed off, realising she hadn't gotten the guys name when he had offered to help her out. She had grinned sheepishly, admitting she was better with chemicals and biologicals, physics was never her real scene.

"Oh, name's Chad, glad I got to meet you before I left, was nice to work with you, even if it was only a half hour or so," Rowan smiled.

"Where're you going?" Chad grinned impishly, Rowan realised she was sorry the apparent goofy childish humour this guy obviously housed was not going to be around much longer.

"Right now, back to my own lab to check what people have dumped onto my desk so far since I've been gone, so I can scoot that to the bottom of the pile I was already working through," Rowan laughed.

"But, in three weeks I'm moving to Indiana, s'where I grew up for a part of my life and I left some good friends behind I've recently become reacquainted with," Rowan raised one eyebrow, perching one hand on her hip and the other on the table again.

"Female?" Chad blushed slightly.

"Maybe, anyways, if we don't properly cross paths on another case before I leave, it was nice meeting you," Rowan struggled to keep the mild sadness out of her voice and her returning smile.

"Yeah, you too,"

About ten minutes after Chad left and Rowan was scribbling notes and testing the density and exact colouring and manufacturing of the glass shard Danny and Hawkes headed back in.

"How goes the scientific delve?" Hawkes asked. Rowan glanced up at him smiling slightly.

"Fair, these two fragments, didn't come from the same bottle, or even the same kind of bottle, I got Chad to help me, I'm tryna find out where they came from, not getting anywhere yet, not been on it long…" she trailed off staring intently down her scope, barely glancing at her notes as she scribbled them but somehow managing to get them neat enough and perfectly on the lines, Danny reflected that he often failed at that while actually looking at the paper.

"Well, me'n Jane finished with that blood, and we're gonna need your Spanish skills again," Rowan properly looked up this time.

"We need t'go talk to the brother,"

Just so you know, I didn't make any of these things up, they are all real and all used for…well you'll find out.

AN Don't know what happened with the AN at the end of the last chapter, FF's having trouble comprehending I guess, anyways, just ignore the top AN and read the bottom one out of the two.


	4. Jacquero

Chapter 4. Jacquero

"You're mean,"

"Rowan-"

"Nope, you're mean, no two ways about it, you're mean,"

Danny and Flack exchanged amused glances and glanced up at the rear-view mirror to see Rowan sitting with her arms folded, leaning back in the seat, a perfectly neutral expression on her face.

"Rowan, how are we mean?" Rowan raised her eyebrow again.

"You're throwing me in the deep end on my first day, this new girl shit is not gonna fly, I'll tell you that for free," Danny shook his head and laughed silently. _Oh, this one's a card,_ he thought.

"Uh, we're here, look, uh, Rowan, we wouldn't force you to do this on your first day, it's just, we don't know of anyone else in the lab or precinct who speaks fluent Spanish, I-" Flack stopped and glared at the wide grin on Rowan's face as she opened her door.

"You need to chill, you're on too much coffee," Flack growled as she slid from her seat, slammed her door and walked briskly up to the front door, Danny launched out of the car, not quite gracefully to catch up, Flack bringing up a disgruntled rear. Danny nudged him grinning and received an elbow back but he ceased his grumbling.

Rowan took a deep breath and raised her fist, pausing for a moment before knocking three times quickly and once after a pause. After about ten seconds, which consisted of Rowan wringing her hands and Danny chewing his lip as he watched her, the door opened. Rowan dropped her hands as Mrs Vinetti peered around the door.

"¿Detectives, qué hace usted espalda aquí, encontró usted a asesino de Ana?" Rowan shook her head.

"Tengo miedo no Senora Vinetti, nosostros quisimos realamente preguntarle hijo un par de preguntas, ¿esta él en casa?" Mrs Vinetti shook her head, not budging from the door to invite them in this time; she took on an expression made up of equal portions of hurt and worry.

"Perdon, el esta en el trabajo. ¿Qué tiene que hacer él con este de todos modos?" Rowan looked visibly uncomfortable for a split second before her features cleared and she said easily with a nonchalant shrug.

"Nosotros sólo quisimos preguntarle un par de preguntas, son todo procedimiento uniforme, ¿dónde trabaja él?" Mrs Vinetti sighed.

"Distrito de almacén de Brooklyn," Rowan nodded with a smile, backing away from the step.

"Gracias, adios Senora," Danny and Flack repeated the last words and they all headed back to the car. Flack shook his head.

"Nice, I wish I could do that, so where're we goin' now?" Rowan slid back into her seat, fumbling for a second with the belt.

"Brooklyn warehouse district, you get to witness more language expertise, almost no-one there speaks fluent English anymore, I used to know a guy who worked down there on odd days, he didn't like spendin' a lot of time there 'cos almost no-one knew what he was sayin'," Danny chuckled.

Once they got the district, Flack raised his eyebrows and ushered Rowan forwards, which earned him a raised finger in response, with a sly grin.

They had stopped at the opening to a giant sort of driveway, kind of a truck yard with warehouse garages opening off it on either side for about a mile down, around fifty odd trucks and vans were parked outside garage doors, crates stood in piles and stacks, bags in heaps and mounds, either outside garage openings or beside truck ramps.

The first guy they came to who wasn't working like a mule was a slightly older guy with a greying beard and a red baseball cap, Rowan glanced at it. _Mets, good taste…_Stepping up to him she waited for him to look up from the clipboard he was half reading before she spoke.

"Hey, you speak English friend?" the guy frowned for a second in slight confusion before shaking his head apologetically and leaning back against a stack of crates piled beside a truck.

"Italiano," Rowan smiled and looked back over her shoulder at Danny, who was now grinning at Flack who rolled his eyes and folded his arms as Danny stepped forwards beside rowan.

"Nessuno problema," he said brightly, he twitched his jacket revealing his badge, and Rowan did likewise, while Flack raised his in front of hi from behind them. The man nodded and his mouth twitched into a slight smile. Rowan smiled back as Danny dove straight in.

"Lei sa Jacquero Vinetti, lei sa dove é?" the guy nodded and pointed at a white a blue truck halfway down the yard, there were five guys hauling and wheeling crates there.

"L'un nella giacca verde, ció é Jac, é nei guai?" Rowan shrugged and raised her arms with it slightly, she did this a lot, punctuating her words with movements of her arms, but it came out a lot more when she spoke Italian.

"Forse, non forse, andiamo scoprire. Lei sa sua sorella, Ana?" he nodded smiling. Rowan resisted the urge to bite her lip; she glanced at Danny who inclined his head slightly.

"Si, la so, la ragazza dolce, é nei guai, é approva?" Rowan sighed.

"No, é morta, é stato assassinata," the man's jaw dropped.

"Ció é terribile! Il Jac non sa? Finirá circo adesso…" Rowan nodded and thanked him.

"Grazie," Danny muttered following his new partner in the direction of their vic's brother.

"Hey Jac!" he called as they got closer. Jac looked up from where he sat on the truck ramp, Danny, Rowan and Flack simultaneously raised their badges to eye level. Jac swallowed slowly and climbed down, walking to them.

"I can help you Detectives?" he asked haltingly. Clearly his English wasn't fantastic.

"Yeah, yeah maybe you can, since this is the only one so far who's spoken a word of English, I'll do some talkin' this time a'ight?" Flack raised his eyebrows at the CSI's beside him who wee fighting not to grin at him. Their smiles vanished as they turned back to Jac.

"A'ight, where were you last night?" Jac frowned.

"Me I was home, con mis padres, mi madre, she went to bed at eight, mi padre y yo, we played cards for a while, why?" The three detectives exchanged looks.

"You sister and her fiancée were murdered last night Jac, your mother didn't tell you?" Jac went white; he reached back to grip the ramp.

"I-I haven't been back to mi casa since, since…" he struggled for the word, then giving up he sighed "Viernes," Rowan glanced at the questioning faces of her co-worker.

"Friday," she supplied. Jac nodded.

"I was staying at mi novia's place over the weekend," he gasped "She'll be so upset, she loves mi hermana," two lone tears dropped from his eyes and hit his jacket as he stared at the ground. Rowan sighed.

"Look Jac, we found your blood at the scene," Jac's head snapped up.

"Impossible, I was at home, unless…Ana broke her vial…" Rowan groaned inwardly.

"Her vial? Your sister kept a vial of your blood?" Jac nodded eagerly. He fished at the neck of his shirt.

"I have a vial of hers, we gave them to each other when we were in high school, a sibling bond kind of thing, she must have broken it somehow, I was at home," Rowan narrowed her eyes, his English was suddenly improving.

"Yeah, yeah, you've done that bit, we'll be in touch, I'm sure you'll want to know what we found, right?" Danny bored his gaze into the young man who shuddered, almost, but not quite, unnoticeable and nodded.

"A'ight, adios," Rowan nodded curtly at him. Flack did likewise.

"Adios,"

Once they were back in the car and on their way back to the lab Danny looked up into the rear-view to see Rowan's face in exactly the same expression it had been while they were questioning Jac.

"What's up Rowan?"

"His English," Flack frowned.

"What about it?" she shrugged and leant her forehead against the window; Danny hadn't taken his eyes off her.

"It was very good," Rowan stated to the glass. Danny now looked away and out of the window.

"She's right, it did suddenly get better, more fluent, like he forgot to act like he only half understood," he glanced back at Rowan again.

"Well, let's get back and see what we can dig up on that glass,"


	5. Baby's First Case Closing

5. Baby's First Case Closing

Hate is like a ghost 

_That lives inside of me, I plead_

_For you to be a guide_

_To be the feeder of my need_

"Hey Danny!"

Danny glanced up. He had retreated for five minutes to the break room. On arrival he had sat in the comfiest chair they had and removed his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose, now only roughly twenty seconds later his partner on the case appeared to have turned up something hopeful. He noticed without noticing that her clothes were rumpled and the knees of her jeans and the sleeves of her

"S'up Rowan," he asked, trying, and failing, not to sound weary. Rowan looked sympathetic for a moment, then handed him a photograph. Danny blinked suddenly and wrinkled his nose.

"Rowan, you smell like a garbage disposal," he said bluntly, Rowan laughed.

"Yeah, I ain't surprised, but that's easily fixable, I got more pressing matters to attend with, take a look," she said inclining her head towards the photograph in Danny's hand.

He slid his glasses back on and peered at the picture.

It was of a red carpet, small round bloodstains were visible.

"Uh, y'know, I must need a new prescription 'cos I fail to see the source of your excitement,"

"Where is that carpet?" Danny raised one eyebrow half-heartedly.

"I dunno,"

"The hotel," Danny suddenly sat up.

"In the corridor, I decided to head back and see if I could turn up anything new…"

FLASHBACK

Rowan stepped off the elevator, unbuttoning her jacket and peering up and down the corridor, it was still blocked off with tape, two metres in each direction from the door.

The room they had taken apart still had it's door shut, locked and taped. Rowan ignored it deciding her fine tooth comb had exhausted all the evidence form it, turning her attention instead to the hallway, the killer had to have been there before he entered the room because the windows were clear. She pulled her flashlight from her kit and skidded it over the floor and walls briefly before moving to the yellow tape to the left of the door and starting to walk painfully slowly towards the tape on the other side of the door.

After around ten minutes she had moved maybe two feet. After another few seconds in which her brow had furrowed and her eyes had narrowed her flashlight froze…blood drops.

Minute, as if the killer had tried not to let any fall but was too busy…trying to hide the evidence. She took a swift and careful swab after snapping off a shot or two of the blood drops. Affirmative. Human blood.

Kneeling carefully Rowan lowered her face closer to the floor and peered at the stains, the directionality and the position showed the killer had moved from the door and had turned left. Rowan's head snapped up and she sat back on her heels to look that way up the corridor, there was a garbage chute at the end.

Striding over to it Rowan trained her flashlight's beam around the edge of the hatch and at the handle. Smears, almost invisible unless you were looking for them, she took a swab, also human. Swinging open the hatch she peered in and shone the light down the shaft. However she was too high up to see the bottom.

Not bothering to wait for the elevator she ran for the stairs and all but slid down the banister, her feet barely touching the steps. She approached the maintenance door at the very bottom, two floors below reception and flashed her badge at the cleaner she encountered fiddling with mops and buckets in the doorway as she slid around him.

She located the wide opening to the metal chute, suspended over a huge metal bin on hinges, on a platform so the garbage could be tipped into a truck or something. Rowan glanced around and spotted a worker and strode over to him.

"How y'doin', Detective Rowan Mortico, CSI, I need t'have a look in your garbage," ignoring the bewildered look on the man's face she ploughed on.

"How often do you empty that thing?" she asked pointing at the bin.

"Every week, takes a while to fill, why?"

"I have reason to believe that a vital piece of evidence," she said, pointing back at the bin "is in there with the trash, so if y'don' mind, I need to get in there and search for it, send a message to the floor t'leave the chutes alone, a'ight?" the man nodded dumbly and shot off.

Rowan slid off her coat and reached into her pocket for a hair tie, securing it high on the back of her head. She rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, double gloved and, after pushing her glasses up her nose, she swung first one leg over into the bin, then the other, and jumped down, landing lightly in the garbage. She had no time to waste on finding overalls, most of the garbage here was clothes, food wrappers from minibars and old magazines and such…

Around twenty minutes later Rowan sighed and blew a lock of wavy red hair from her face, shoving her glasses back up her sweat slicked nose, the smell was awful, shower heads and shampoo bottles danced in her tired head, her eyes sliding shut.

After a moment she forced them open and scanned over everything sifting through everything close by her…until something sharp pressed into her palm.

Rowan sat up and peered down by her leg at a sharp transparent green point. Tugging and sifting carefully she pulled out the neck and upper body of a green wine bottle. She stared open mouthed at it for a moment, then, holding the glass carefully, she climbed out and bagged and tagged the new piece of evidence.

She shot her jeans and her sweater a disgusted look but assured herself she had clean clothes back at the lab. Picking up her kit she walked over to the worker she'd spoken to before.

"Thank you for your co-operation sir," he gave her a once over and raised his eyebrows. She returned this as a smile.

"You're very welcome," he said haltingly. With that Rowan spun on her heel and made her way out.

END FLASHBACK

"You found. The murder weapon. You found it?" Rowan grinned.

"I found. The murder weapon," Danny leapt up.

"Fantastic! Oh-" he gave her an up and down look causing her to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah Captain Subtlety, to the showers I'm headin', you start on the weapon?"

"Better believe it!"

After a half hour Rowan strolled into the lab where Danny was peering through the lenses of two microscopes rushing from one to the other, Rowan could tell he was testing the refraction.

"They have to match Danny," she said wearily, the shower had made her realise how tiring this case was.

Danny looked up, Rowan's face, though tired, dark circles gracing the skin beneath her eyes, looked fresher and cleaner, her hair, damp and darkened, was tied back in a loose ponytail at the top of her neck, she had donned her spares, a long sleeved black and white mock layered v-neck and loose fitting black jeans, and she had swapped the grey trainers for grey sneakers.

"Hey dumpster girl!" Rowan grinned and shoved him, pulling on her lab coat.

"You gonna fume that thing?"

"Just about to,"

Danny carefully lifted the bottle and lay it on the rack under the fume hood, he dripped in the liquid and shut the lid again. Flipping the switch he stepped back and folded his arms stifling a yawn. Rowan glanced up at him, her eyebrow raised.

"Keepin' you up Messer?" she asked lightly.

"Nah, long shift an' all, heavy case," Rowan nodded. A tall woman with unruly curly brown hair suddenly strode into the lab; she smiled brightly and looked from Rowan to Danny.

"Hey Danny, how's tricks?" Danny gave her a look but grinned.

"Fair, how'd your case go?" The woman scoffed and shook her head.

"Pathetic, turns out two burglars were robbin' the same apartment at the same time, bumped into each other, dropped their torches and one of them managed to fumble the silverware he was looting," Danny laughed. He glanced at Rowan and mentally smacked his forehead.

"Oh right, jeez, sorry, uh Rowan this is Stella Bonasera, Stell, this is Rowan Mortico," Stella leant around Danny and shook Rowan's hand, smiling widely still.

"Nice to meet you,"

"Yeah you too," Suddenly Danny yawned again. Rowan and Stella laughed.

"You guys have been working a long shift uh?" Rowan nodded still giggling as she went to retrieve the bottle with gloved hands.

"Yeah, heavy case," Danny gave her a short look.

"Well listen, why don't I run those prints for you? My case is closed and I can run those swabs you got up to Jane too, I got nothin' better to do," Rowan and Danny exchanged looks and nodded.

Once in the break room Danny handed Rowan a polystyrene cup full of hot black coffee, got himself a cup and they both collapsed into chairs at the table. Danny took a gulp and set down his cup.

"A'ight, let's go over this, we got two vics, one suspect-"

"The brother," Danny nodded.

"-and we now have the murder weapon,"

"Right, part of which had the brother's blood on it,"

"Which Jac claims must have come from a vial Ana wore around her neck,"

"But there was only bottle glass at the scene,"

"We have blood samples and prints being dealt with,"

"Brother and father hated the fiancée, possible motive,"

"We also got a paper that needs processing,"

"And an unknown medical mixture that needs tracing back to somebody,"

"So…we need to talk to the coroner, see about the vic's personal affects,"

"Question the whole family again,"

"And chase up a little background information, see why the Vinetti's hated Alejandro so much,"

"A'ight, I'll take the background, that'll take a while, you get started on the rest?"

"You got it," they both leapt up.

"Alright,"

From his vantage point in the corridor Mac watched the flowing exchange between his CSI's, hard working and smart, persevering and resourceful, he smiled, bent his head to the file he was holding and started back to his office.


	6. Back to the Drawing Board

6. Back to the Drawing Board

Rowan rapped smartly on the Vinetti's door for the third time that day, her back ached, her hands ached and her eyes were beginning to hurt.

Their shift had begun at eight that morning, it was now seven in the evening, and for a first day she was going right at her work. She waited a couple more seconds before the door creaked open to reveal a tall robust man of around forty-five to fifty, with black hair turning grey at the sides and piercing hazel eyes. Rowan immediately wished Mrs Vinetti had opened the door instead. This was going to test her.

"Hola Sr Vinetti, mi nombre es Rowan Mortico, yo soy del laboratorio del crimen de NYPD, yo me preguntaba si yo le quizás pregunte algunas preguntas, no tomarán mucho tiempo," she held her breath as she waited for the response, his expression suddenly changed, his face sagged, the muscles loosing their will to go on, his face was sad, and his shoulders slumped as if in defeat.

"¿Esto está acerca de mi hija Ana, no es?" he said in a low, tired voice. Rowan immediately got the impression that Mr Vinetti could never have done this to his daughter, but as a CSI she couldn't assume anything, she ploughed on.

"¿Sí es, puedo entrar yo?" Mr Vinetti stepped aside and ushered her in.

"¿Gracias, y siento mucho para su pérdida, pero para y su hijo puede contestar usted algunas preguntas para mí?" he sighed, nodded and lead her through to the living room where Mrs Vinetti was sitting her hands clasped in her lap, her face tear streaked, Jac was sitting in an armchair with one leg flung over it's arm, staring, unseeing at the TV programme six feet in front of him. Mr Vinetti sat by his wife and slid and arm about her, she immediately slumped against him, putting her hands against his chest.

"Sr y Sra Vinetti, yo me pregunto si usted me quizás diga por qué exactamente usted tuvo aversión a su novia de hija." Mr Vinetti sighed.

"Yo no lo odié, odié su compañía, ellos me enroscaron y mi padre sobre años hace, Ana se trastornó cuando yo la dije, pero yo nunca la dañaría ni su novia, él era un hombre bueno para ella." Rowan blinked, _he didn't hate him, just his company, really, and that changes everything._

"Yo no lo quise, él era no bueno para Ana, ninguna razón matelo ni nada, pero él eran no hombre bueno." Vinetti scowled at his son and Rowan frown, folding her arms, not liking this guy one bit.

Alright, father didn't hate fiancée, loved daughter, looks absolutely devastated, wife seems the same, but brother didn't like the guy and doesn't seem half so upset.

"¿Sr y Sra Vinetti, ha sido usted reunir sus afectos de hija todavía, sus pertenencias personales? Si eso es el caso, yo querría verlos." Mrs Vinetti nodded, with a quiet 'sí' she slid from the room, dragging her feet, her hands hanging limp. Jac shot a look at her retreating back, then at Rowan.

After a moment she came back with a silver cardboard box the size of a bedside cabinet, she set it down in front of Rowan, who knelt and began to rummage through it after snapping on a pair of gloves.

After a moment she ceased and stood up.

"¿Una cosa final, puede sonar extraño, pero de usted toma cualquiera cualquier clase de la medicina en todo?" Mrs Vinetti looked surprised at the question but answered steadily enough.

"Realmente, sí, Jac tiene una medicina correctiva para espasmos de músculo, un condidtion despreciable que él obtuvo de trabajar en ese distrito horrible." Rowan nodded slowly.

"Gracias para su tiempo, yo estaré en contacto." She turned to go, but suddenly Mr Vinetti's hand was her arm, she turned to see him giving her a desparate look.

"Encuentre el monstruo que hizo esto a mi nena, el detective, por favor." Rowan blinked astiounded and then nodded. _Find this monster…_

"Sí, hago, no preocupo."

Back at the lab Danny sighed and lay his head against the table, waiting for the results to print out for the substance sticking the paper together, he needed the results before he could go about separating it, whatever it was it had obliterated half the words.

BEEP

His head snapped up and he snatched up the results…and raised one eyebrow..

Toilet detergent? Had someone thrown the note in the can and then fished it back out, just to them throw in the waste paper basket?

He heard the soft pad of sneakers on tile and looked up to see Rowan walk in looking vaguely smug.

"Bullshit," she said "Jac was talking bullshit, there was no vial, non in the personal affects, non in evidence, he was talking outta his arse, he had to have been there, all we gotta do is prove it in full," Danny held up the results.

"I got an analysis on the stuff on it, now I gotta decipher the writing on it."

"Well, you do that while I have a look at our blood and gunk evidence, I searched earlier, turns out all the components aid with muscle problems," Danny frowned.

"So what does that mean for us?"

"Jacquero has a muscle spasm problem, so let's get to it,"

"Right,"

Twenty minutes later saw them sitting on opposite sides of a workbench, working on their respective cases aspects, the air was silent and still, though the sounds of the rest of the lab poked their way in now and then.

"Hah! Got you motherfucker!" Danny glanced up from the note he was working well on his way to deciphering. Rowan was peering into a microscope, her glasses perched on top of her head. She was examining the shard of broken wine glass, the murder weapon, that had both the two vic's and the brother's blood on it.

"Whuddya get?" Danny asked.

"This blood's mixed with a pale blue substance, like the killer just shot somethin', wha's the bettin' it's that remedy shit Jac's takin' for his spasms," Danny smirked again and passed over the note. Rowan held it under the light.

"This may help prove that theory, look," Rowan squinted at the paper, pulling her glasses off her head and sliding them onto her face.

Ana 

**_You are making a mistake, this man is not right you, he is a a liar and he'll only hurt do something about him I is no idle threat, I mean to stop to his money, he has hurt before, if you stand way it will not help, I will not you and hurt more,_**

Jac 

"Oh really?" Rowan raised her eyebrow for the hundredth time that day. _If she keeps doing that, that'll be her trademark._

"Apparently her brother had some problem with him 'cos he ripped off their grandfather with his finances, and he wanted to get rid o' that problem," Rowan grinned evilly.

"Father mentioned somethin' about that, apparently he didn't have a problem with hi personally. We _got_ his ass!" Danny grinned back and reached out his hand.

"Here, gimme that so I can clear up the obliterated words," Rowan slid the note across to him and watched him scan it onto a computer and fiddle with the controls until the entire note could be deciphered easily:

Ana 

**You are making a huge mistake, this man is not right for you, he is a cheater and a liar and he'll only hurt you, if you do not do something about him I will and this is no idle threat, I mean to put a stop to his treachery, he is only after money, he has hurt our family before, if you stand in my way it will not help, I will not let him use you and hurt us any more,**

Jac 

Across the hallway in his office Mac watched the interaction between the two of them, they'd become friendly very quickly and he was pleased, he scribbled a note for Rowan's file, flipped it shut and speed dialled Flack on a case that had just landed on his desk.

"Look Jac, you got no way outta this, we know ya sent ya sister a letter while she was in the hotel with Alejandro, the reason we couldn't read the note right away was because she crewed it up and dumped it in the can soon as she saw it was from you, but she took it out, tried to read it, thought, y'know, brother an' all, then she read it and tossed it again, this time in the trash, but you were watchin' 'em and you saw'er dump it, so you decided tha' was the las' straw, right? You went in, right after you took ya remedy to keep y'self in control and ya killed 'em, him first, then her, for not listenin' to you, but ya cut y'self on that shard, got your blood on it, tha's how y'got that cut on y'wrist, then you dropped the shard down the chute, an' dropped the other half of the murder weapon, which you broke again, in the can, but y'left a blood trail, so we found it anyhow, we tested y'DNA, perfect match, case closed,"

Jac was trembling, angry and upset, he hadn't taken his remedy yet and that was annoying him too, but they had him so he just nodded and looked away, heard them walk to the door, the redhead one who had not said much but thrown photographs at him, made short comments and borne her gaze into him so hard he couldn't keep track in his mind of his own lies. That coupled with the voice and tone of the blonde had rocked his case upside down.

"At least my family is safe from him," he whispered. Danny and Rowan exchanged glances, hook their heads and walked out, pulling the door shut behind them.

"Damn was that one two faced case!" Danny breathed as they headed up to the cafeteria.

"'Scuse me?" Rowan said, humour in her voice and Danny knew without looking that she had raised her eyebrows again.

"Well, y'know, tough on y'head and some heavy evidence to process, but easy to get over and done with," Rowan smiled properly and nodded.

They picked themselves up some soup each and slumped into seats at the same table as Hawkes and Lindsay, whom Rowan had run into earlier in the day.

"So," Hawkes said, twiddling noodles on his fork "how'd the case go?"

"Good, all wrapped up and the killer in custody, not bad work for a first case Rowan," Danny grinned over the rim of his polystyrene cup at the new CSI who grinned and stared down at her own cup. Lindsay nudged Danny's arm.

"How come she gets to be called by her first name already huh Messer?" Danny grinned even more broadly, sipping his soup.

"Dunno, she's cuter than you?" the entire table erupted in laughter; Lindsay smacked Danny's arm and grinned across at Rowan.

Mac and Stella walked in then to see the four of them still laughing.

"New girl's doin' good," Stella commented. Mac nodded thoughtfully but said nothing, though he was smiling at the sight before him. Just the way his lab should be…

"Hey Rowan!" Rowan was sat at the table in the break room drinking the sludge they all called coffee, and reading a tattered looking novel balanced on her crossed legs. She looked up to see Danny walk in and straight to the coffee maker. He grinned at her and came, with his coffee in hand, to sit opposite her. He nodded at her book, taking a sip of his sludge.

"What are you readin'?" he asked. Rowan tipped up the book so he could see the front cover. Danny nodded slowly.

"Ah, The Catcher in the Rye, I read that a coupla years ago, this your first time readin' it?" Rowan shook her head, sipping her own sludge.

"Nah, I've read it nigh on five times maybe, I just love the story,"

"You not think it seems without plot though, just makin' it all up as he goes?" Rowan set down her cup and regarded Danny steadily, adjusting her glasses.

"That's the whole point, Holden is making it up as he goes along, he doesn't know what he's doing, doesn't know where he's going, he just wants a little closure, and he can't find it," Danny nodded as if in realisation.

"Yeah, yeah that's right, all that calling old friends, seeing people who barely remembered him, he wanted comfort, and he didn't find it until the end, at the fairground," Rowan smiled, fiddling with the edge of her page.

"So where are you up to?"

"The part where he's snuck home to see his sister, he's telling her about pretending to be a deaf mute," Danny smiled and leaned back in his chair, taking in the sitting figure in front of him.

Her hair was tied up today, she was wearing a green shirt, open at the neck and blue jeans, same grey trainers, her two tone eyes were trained on the page, her left hand was held loosely around her cup.

Danny sipped his coffee again and reached for a paper someone had left on the chair next to him.

Rowan glanced up, she had barely taken in the blonde bespectacled man she had met and worked with the day before, and who was now apparently becoming a friend.

Dark blonde hair lightly gelled and spiked, pale blue eyes, ringing with darker blue, silver glasses, a light blue shirt, black jeans and brown boots. He let the paper fall lightly against the table, propped on his knee, his hand outstretched, the fingers slightly raised to brush against his own cup, almost as if it were a constant assurance that it was still there.

Turning her attention back to her book, she did not notice Mac come to the door and look in on his two employees. He smiled at the silent sight, the two of them, sat across form each other, reading and drinking coffee, their glasses pushed further down to keep them from having to tilt their heads so much. He hated to disturb them but…

"Messer, Mortico!" They both looked up, Mac was holding a folder, Rowan placed own her book, picked up her coffee and rose to join him at the door.

"Another homicide for you two, I know, two in two days, freaky,"

"You're tellin' me, what happened?" Danny folded his arms.

"Nurse called it in, found a patient out of their room, in an office, head almost cut clean off, thing is, most of the other patients got blood on 'em, and more than half of them were asleep, you got your work cut out for you," Danny sighed.

"A'ight where are we going?"

"It's at the Aurora Sunrise Psychiatric Hospital in Manhattan, Lindsay and Flack are already on their way there, ran into them on the way here. Go on," he handed Danny the folder and they made their way to the elevator.

"Lemme guess, my car again?" Danny, smirk in place, turned to look at Rowan, and his smile faltered, her face was ashen, her eyes were wide, her hands, also deathly white, were shaking. Danny put out an arm to make her stop, she flinched almost but not quite invisibly and turned to look at him, trying to look as though there was no problem, but her breathing was still too shallow for Danny's liking.

"Rowan?" she just blinked mocked an inquisitive expression.

"Rowan? C'mon, talk t'me, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just uh…" her face suddenly contorted "D-Danny, it okay with you if I sit out a while, I don't feel too…too good, couldya tell Mac I'll be back in a few hours, I just, just don't feel too good," with that she blinked at him again, turned and walked a little too briskly in the direction of the locker room, seemingly blind to her supervisor who stood in a doorway halfway down, he strode towards Danny.

"What the hell was that?"

"Uh, she said she wasn't feeling too good, said to tell you she'd be goin' home a few hours, must be sick," Mac glanced at his employees face, his expression was near unreadable, somewhere between, concerned, worried, confused…

"She say when she'd be back?" Danny nodded.

"Later, I gotta scene t'go to, see ya Mac," Mac watched Danny walk to the elevator, turn and lean forwards to the control panel than back against the rear wall.

Rowan sank onto the bench in front of her locker, leaning her head against it, gripping the little orange bottle in her hand, tears pricked her eyes from the back, she slid two into her mouth and dry swallowed them. Sighing, she reached into her locker for her coat and satchel and made her way from the building, walking the five blocks to her apartment building.

Letting herself in she pulled off her coat, dropped her bag and went to the fridge, extracting a water and dropping down in her favourite chair. Taking a deep swig she sighed and leaned her head back.

"It was a long time ago, get a grip, long time ago, not a factor anymore, easy, easy…easy, breathe…easy," Rowan's eyes began to haze with the sudden onset of fatigue and the effect of the pills combined were about to knock her on her ass. She forced herself up and through to her bedroom, she flopped own on top of the covers and rolled onto her back, her eyes sliding shut.

Updates soon!

There is no such hospital; I made it up for fictional purposes.


End file.
